Much of the merchandising of food and beverages and the vending of a large number of other retail products occurs in circumstances that are ancillary to some other marketing activity by which other products and services are sold. That other activity is the primary attraction that brings the customer onto the business premises of the merchant or causes the customer to enter into a business relationship with the merchant. On the occasions of the presence on such business premises, such guests or customers often have a demand for other products, such as food or beverage products, and become potential customers for the merchandising of such other products.
Applicant has, in the related applications referred to above, provided systems and methods that fill various needs that have existed in the vending of products, particularly beverages and other packaged food products, to customers of preexisting enterprises. Applicant's system has provided for the automatic pneumatic transfer of vended products from a remote storage location to a vending terminal at which a customer may enter a selection through a control panel. Applicant's system and method are particularly effective for the vending of beverages in their own cans or plastic bottles by blowing air directly against the bottles to move them through a tube. Applicant's system and method provides for the charging or accounting for the purchase by utilizing the charge and payment capabilities of a diverse vending system, such as a gasoline dispensing and vending system, to which applicant's system is connected.
In the course of implementing applicant's pneumatic vending system, the need arises for automatically loading products of various types into the pneumatic delivery system, particularly where different potential products may be diverse in shape and require different handling and storage requirements. Custom adaptation of a pneumatic vending system to various products is undesirable, particularly because it increases the cost of installation of the system and limits flexibility of use of the system for changing product requirements.
Further, existing automated vending systems such as those that employ individual automated vending machines, represent a substantial capital investment in refrigerated storage units and product selection hardware. Replacement of such machines to provide their functions in a substitute vending system presents an additional undesirable expense which can deter upgrading the system in certain cases.
In addition, in the vending of carbonated beverages in plastic bottles, product agitation causes greater problems than with beverages vended in cans. With bottles, the narrow bottle neck has a greater likelihood to propel liquid from the bottle as a result of the release of gases from the beverage than in the case of beverages vended in cans. The differing structural properties of plastic and metal container walls might also contribute to this effect.
Accordingly, there remains a need in the retailing industry, particularly for the sale of cooled beverages, or other temperature-maintained, cooled or heated food items at locations such as gas stations, for selectively loading such products into a product delivery system and for carefully handling the products during their loading and delivery.